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Valorant Beta Starts Next Week, but It Might Not Be Worth the Effort

Last Updated September 23, 2020 1:47 PM
Thomas Bardwell
Last Updated September 23, 2020 1:47 PM
  • Riot Games has announced a Valorant closed beta starting next week.
  • Riot is limiting access to NA and EU players at first, before expanding to other regions.
  • Would-be players need to jump through hoops for a chance to participate.

Riot Games announced today a closed beta for highly-anticipated upcoming tactical 5vs5 shooter, Valorant, starting Apr. 7.

Valorant
Source: Twitter 

In the lead up to a release this summer, Riot says it’s staging the beta to test out Valorant’s competitive chops, and as a means of fostering a global community of players.

Valorant Closed Beta

In a press release sharing the news , Riot reveals that the closed beta will be limited to players in Europe, Canada, United States, Turkey, Russia, and CIS countries.

Riot specifies that only Europe and North America will be available from day one on Apr. 7 , with more regions opening up as the company deploys server infrastructure.

There are plans to extend the Valorant beta to other regions beyond those listed above. Riot says this hinges on ‘the volatile logistics of launching a beta effectively during a global pandemic.’ Riot says to look for updates via official channels as the beta progresses.

Valorant Beta Next Week, but There's Some Hoop Jumping to Qualify
Source: Riot Games

As for the details, the Valorant closed beta kick starts on Apr. 7 on PC at 2 pm CET/6 am PST. Riot notes that progress won’t carry over to the full launch of Valorant to ensure an equal footing for all players, notably those that miss out on the beta.

Riot will carry over-purchased Valorant points to the full game, while also throwing in a 20% bonus as recognition for buying work-in-progress skins.

Participants Will Need to Jump Through Hoops

Now to the all-important question of how to get involved in the beta.

In our estimation, it’s a rather tedious rigmarole. The registration process sees would-be players jump through quite a few hoops for only a chance of taking part.

First, you’ll need to set up a Riot account  as well as a Twitch account. Then, hop over to Twitch to pair your Riot account to the Twitch account.  

From there, you’ll need to tune in to region-specific live streams on Twitch  once the beta goes live next week. Twitch will highlight these ‘specific Valorant closed beta streams.’

It’s not clear how this will work in practice (presumably drops like with the Legends of Runeterra beta ), but doing so will qualify you for the Valorant closed beta. Access will also depend on server space as Riot explains:

Please note that the number of players we let in is based on our current server capacity. We encourage everyone to register, and we’ll let more people in as we are able. Player count will ramp up based on timelines for when we can activate more regional servers.

Reports from participants in this past weekend’s preview event also suggest select streamers will be enabling access drops before the official beta launch on Apr. 7 .

Riot intends to keep the Valorant closed beta a short affair if at all possible but explains that adding other regions and ‘unexpected feedback’ could lead to extensions. Riot says it still has its sights firmly set on a Summer 2020 release.